Hand-grenade



A..G. BERGMAN.

n HAND GRENADE. APPLICATION FILED NOV. I3.'19I6.

'Patented Feb.10,192o;

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By Attorneys,

` STAT-Es A PATENT Ormea AXEL e. EERGMAN, OE NEW YORK, N; Y.,AssIGNoRvro ORDNANCE ENeINEERINe` cORPORA'rIoN, 'OE NEW YORK, N.' Y.,AcORrORAmION OE NEW JERSEY. t

HAND-GRENADE,

Specification of Letters ,Patent Patented Feb. 10, 1920.

'l To all whom t may concern.'

Be it knownthat I, AXEL G. BERGMAN, a subject vof the King of Sweden,residingl in the borough of Manhattan, city, county and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in HandyGrrenades,l of which the following is a specilcation. l

This invention relates to hand grenades or similar devices, end aims toprovide certain lmprovements therem.

',The lnvention 1 s particularly directed t`o that type of grenade whichis intended'to ex lode on impact with-theground `or other obJect at4which it may be directed. ,In this .y type of grenade it hasbeenheretofore proosed to provide a firing pin which is'held lack by a.pivoted member the-lower'end of which engages apin, andthe upper endofwhich is provided with a wei ht, so that when the impact loccurs theweig t will move 'n by inertia to tilt the member and thereby diatelysurrounding the.

dlsengage its lower end from the firing pin.

In the use of such devices, however, acclden-tal dropping of the enaderesults in astances, Yhas proved fatal to those enade. It has frequentlyhappened' that that thegrenade has accidentally-struck'a the grenade..40

. unless art'of the trench, or'in some other manner as received-suicient shock to explode it. According to the present invention Iprovide a construction in which all danger of .accidental explosion isjpractically climinated. '1 To thls end I'provide a safet de-v vicewhichcan only operate in the ig t ofi If the grenade is not in Hight itis'practically impossible for it to explode it is ileliberately--` andintentionally l exploded by the operator'.

i According to the preferred form of the invention I provide a memberwhich is preferablv housed in the grenade and which 1s ejected therefromduring the act of throwing,` such member being adapted-to act byatmospheric pressure to release the detent, which permits the firingmechanism to act Iupon impact. Such a device, whichI have denominated aparachute, is preferably made in conventional' para-chute form and ibest comprises a square or octagon of cloth attached tothe detentV bythereof,

i l uring theact ofv 'throwing the thrower has been shot down, or

cords orl lother iexible members .permittin the-cloth to be- Acomeextended or distende by atmospheric Figure 1 isvan exterior View of agrenade 6. Acontaining the inventionz.

Fig.` 2 is va 'longitudinal axial section Referrlng' to the drawings letindicatel l the grenade as a whole which, in the instance t Y shown,comprises a bomb portio'n vBl and handle portion C. These mayconveniently consist of two tubular Casin connected togetherbyscrewthreads or 1n any suitable way. The casing B has a chamber D within1f it which contains the explosive charge, and depending within thisycasing is a cylinder E containing at its bottom aring 'charge-F with anappropriate firing cap. A firin 5in Gr is usually provided, which isurged 75 ownwardly by a spring H. The firing pin. extends through thecasmg'B into the casing C and is `there provided with an arm I whichengages with a similar arm' J fixed to a weight K which is pivoted torock uni- 8C v ersally on the cross piece'L which is formed' with .asocketfreceiving point M of the weight. The broader. features ofthisconstruction have been heretofore proposed. It will be observed that thespring H places a 8| tension on the firing -pin which .is xed tothe-Weight at a point so near itspivot that it requires -a considerablejar or impact to distur'bl the connection. When .the grenadeI strikesthe ground orother object sothat I it is forcibly arrested in its di ht,the inertia of the weight causesit to-ti t, thus disengaging the arms IandJ and permitting-the firing pin to explode the cap and ignitethecharge.

In this type of grenade there hasl been dangerofa premature explosiondue to the posslbilitythat the grenade in -theact of throwing will hitsome hard objectas the' side of the trench or that the soldier lwill beli 'shot during the act of throwing, thus causing him to drop thegrenade, and "I .have heretofore proposed some .types of safety deviceto prevent this action.l

According to the present invention I pro- I vide a construction whichpractically -elimlnates all danger of premature explosion'by introducinga meansto prevent the rin'g u locks the firing mechanism permitting itlthereafterto explode on impact;

In the. construction shown as an 4illustration the detent is in the formof a' split `pin N which enters a recess in the to of v,the weight K andpreferably has a `fliictional engagement therewith. `This detent isshown as carriedv on a disk O, fittingy fairly snugly into the cylinderC and .resting on top of the weight. So long as the parts are in thisposition the weight cannot tilt. Attached to the plate O is a parachuteP, the

` attachment preferably being by .a flexible member such as' the cord Q.Assuming that the parachute is out of the grenade, atmospheric pressurewill cause it to inflate so-that .it is retarded whereupon thevplate Oand pin N will be drawn from Athe grenade.

It is desirable if not necessary that an ejecting means be provided forthrowing the parachute from the grenade, and' in the construction shownthis is simpl. attained the provision of a spring y resting against theplate O and preferably'having arranged above it a celluloid or ot ierlight disk S, the function of which is to prevent the .material of theparachute and the connectin cords from becoming entangled with t espring. I have Afound in practice that a parachute of approximately teninches in diameter constructed of light silk is admirable in ,itsyoperation and occupies such a small" compass that it can be easilystored in the top of a grenade which is as small as that indicated inthe drawing.

The casing B isrovided at its top with a yclosure such as which is shownas fitting loosely to the casing, and to maintain the cover in placeagainst the ejective action of the spring R a catch U is provided whichhas an upper portion U yfitted over the to -of the cover, and adepending portion 2 which is apertured to fit loosely over a pin U3.About midway of the length of the catch the latter is perforated to fitover a pin U4 and again to t over a pin/ U5 nearthe bottom of the catch.The catch is normally retained in place' by a collar V which surroundsthe lower lpart of the casing C and which carries a thumb pie-Ce W.engaging the lower end of the catch. When j this thumb piece is inplace the' catch is parevented from movement. 'When the thumb piece isactuated to the right or left the catch is released 'and it is permittedto spring off the grenadethrough its own action or through theassistance of the spring R. Usually the collar V is drilled at one' sideto receive a cotter pin X which passes .2. Ina

into themetal of the grenade and normally prevents'the accidentalmovement of the sleeveand hence the thumb p iece W.

' When the grenadevis asembled and loaded in the lfactory the pin X is.inserted and `remains in position until the grenades are delivered .atthetrench, when theV pins may be removed. In this condition the grenadeis still safe against accidental discharge. If in handling the grenadesprior to flight the sleeve V should be accidentally rotated to' vcausethe lthumb piece to release the catch U, the latterwould be thrown 0H,thus vreleasing the cover T, and permitting an ejectment of theparachute. But even in these circumstances the grenade still has analmost perfect .factor of safety since the mere ejectment of theparachute is not sufficient to remove the in N. 'It requires adeliberate and intentional pull on the connecting cord or elsethe-pressure of atmosphere in flight to remove this pin. However, themere removal of the pin is not suicient to cause an explosion sinceVafter the removal an impact or shock is necessary to release theringpin.

It will -thus be seen that I have' secured an almost perfect factor ofsafety in devices of this type..

In operation vthe' user grasps the handle portion of the Igrenade andeither before or catch flies olf together with `the cover and theparachute is ejected.. Within a short distance from the operatorsuicient atmospheric pressure is developed to withdraw the ring pin,whereupon the enade is in condition to explode upon reaching its mark.

A noticeable feature of the invention is that the parachute deviceapparently does not disturb the laim nor decrease the throw of thegrenade. If any action of this kind takes place it is so slight 'as notto be observable in actual ractice.

While I have s own and described one form of the invention it will beunderstood that' I do not wish to be limited thereto since variouschanges may be made 'therein witho ut departing from the spirit oftheinvention.

1. In a grenade or the like,'a firing mechanism, means for actuatingsaid firing mechanism on impact or shock, a weight operated detent forsaid means, an atmos herically operable device for releasing saiddetent,

and means for controlling the operation of said device.

enadeor the like the combination lof a ring mechanism, a weight operateddetent forV locking said firing mechanism, a parachute device connectedwith said detent, a spring beneath said parachute device adapted toeject the latter, a retaining means for the parachute, andhand-controlled means for releasing said retaining means when thegrenade is thrown.

,3, In a grenade or the like, the combination of firing mechanism, aweight for operating it on shock or impact, a disk above lsaid weightengaging the latter and preventing its effective movement, a parachute labove said disk and connected with the vlatter by a flexible kmember,and means for retaining said parachute in inoperative condition untilthe grenade is thrown.

` 4. In a grenade or the like the combination of a firing mechanism, aweight adapted to operate said mechanism upon impact, a disk above saldweight engaging the latter vand preventing its eii'ective movements, aspring above said disk, Va parachute above said spring, and means forretaining said parachute in inoperative condition until the `grenade isthrown.

5. In a grenade or the like the combinal tion with a firing mechanism,of a detent last mentioned lock and acting to move the latter when thegrenade is thrown to permit operation of the detent upon impact.

6. In a grenade or the like the combination with a firing mechanism, ofa weight operated detent for locking the firing mechanism, a secondlock-which normally coperates with the detent to prevent movementthereof, and an atmospherically operable device connected with the lastmentioned lock and acting to release the latter when the grenade isthrown, to permit movement of the detent upon impact.

7. In a grenade or the like, the combination with a vvcasing and afiring mechanism, of a lock which in normal position prevents operationof the firing mechanism, and is movable out of the casing to permitopera'` tion of the firing mechanism upon impact, and a device which 1sdischarged from the casing by atmospheric action and is directlyconnected to said lock and acting to carry the latter with it out of thecasing when the grenade is thrown and before impact.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name. A

AXEL G. BERGMAN.

